The One With Ross' Wedding, Part 1
"The One with Ross's Wedding" is the fourth season finale of Friends, which aired on NBC on May 7, 1998. The plot revolves around Ross and the rest of the group flying to London for his wedding to Emily. The episode was directed by Kevin S. Bright, with the first part being written by Michael Borkow and the second part by Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri (from a story by Jill Condon and Amy Toomin). Scenes for the episode were shot on location in London and in front of a British studio audience. For many broadcasts (and the DVD release) it is presented as a double-length episode, though sometimes it is aired as two separate parts. Plot Even before they leave the apartment, Joey drives Chandler crazy by forgetting everything useful, even his passport, but crying every five seconds "London, baby!", and photographing absolutely everything all the time, as if 6 hours on an airplane with Rachel weren't bad enough. Emily was already a nervous wreck, but when she and Ross show Rachel her dream site for the wedding that hall is already torn down, ahead of schedule! Ross hears Rachel made her consider postponing and freaks out about their parents and transatlantic guests; she answers then they better call it off altogether. Back home, Phoebe makes Rachel realize how much she still loves Ross, so she helps her make up her mind, but warns her it's too late to get Ross back- yet Rachel rushes to London. When Joey insists to buy and wear an ostentatious Union Jack souvenir hat, Chandler refuses to spend the rest of the day thus; instead of being lost and miserable, Joey has a great afternoon, even photographed with Fergie, but back in the hotel room gets really homesick after phoning Phoebe and watching Cheers on TV. After explaining to Ross the obsessive focus of girls on their wedding, Rachel comes with a solution: a romantic make-over of the hall's ruin... Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green-Bing Courteney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Sarah Ferguson - Herself Helen Baxendale - Emily Waltham Richard Branson - The Vendor Pamela Kosh - The Saleslady (DVD only) Joe Fedio - Cute Airport Guy Olivia Williams - Emily's Bridesmaid Mikkel Winther - Guy at Airport Crew Directed By: Kevin S. Bright Written By: Michael Borkow Production During the summer hiatus of 1997 the producers were contacted by Channel 4, the British first-run broadcaster of Friends, with a proposal to film an episode in London. Producer Greg Malins is quoted as saying "We had to come up with a storyline that would cause all the Friends to go to London ... and that ended up being Ross getting married, because they would all have to go to his wedding". The episode featured numerous supporting roles from British actors. For her role as Andrea Waltham, Saunders "heard Joan Collins' voice in her head". Her Absolutely Fabulous co-star June Whitfield appeared in cameo as the housekeeper. Felicity, the bridesmaid who Joey entices, is played by Olivia Williams. Further cameos were made by Sarah Ferguson as herself, Richard Branson as the vendor who sells Joey a hat, Hugh Laurie as the man sitting next to Rachel on the plane, and Jane Carr as the ticket agent. Lisa Kudrow did not join the others in London as she was too heavily pregnant to fly. Elliott Gould inadvertently revealed that Rachel was to turn up at the wedding, upsetting Marta Kauffman. Scenes not involving the main apartments were all filmed in London during the week beginning March 30, 1998. Location shooting was done mostly for scenes featuring Joey and Chandler; outside the London Marriott, Westminster Abbey, and the top of an open-top London bus as it crosses Tower Bridge (this scene was excised from the final cut but features in the opening titles of the next episode). Interiors, such as the restaurant, the Waltham's hallway and the hotel rooms, were all filmed on purpose-built sets at The Fountain Studios, Wembley. The reaction from the audience when Rachel came out from under Chandler's bed covers meant the actors had to hold their position for 27 seconds. When filming ran late one evening, the production team ordered pizzas for the audience. The episode was a coup for Channel 4, who erected crush barriers outside their building to hold back fans when the cast arrived for a press conference (though no fans actually turned up). The broadcaster also commissioned a behind-the-scenes program from Princess Productions. Hosted by British television personality Johnny Vaughan, The One Where Johnny Makes Friends features comedic tongue-in-cheek interviews with all six main cast (Vaughan contacted Kudrow by payphone, claiming that he couldn't make international calls from his dressing room) and was broadcast on Channel 4 on May 6, 1998. Two brief behind-the-scenes featurettes were filmed, titled Friends Goes to London and Friends on Location in London, which were included on the DVD releases of seasons four and five. A tie-in book, Making Friends in the UK was published by Channel 4 Books in November 1998. Said book was bundled into a gift pack entitled "The One with the Whole London Wedding", which featured an extended cut of this episode merged with the next episode. Ross and Emily's marriage was originally planned to last, but Helen Baxendale did not wish to remain in America while pregnant. The writers could not script a convincing story for why Emily would not be seen, despite being married to Ross, so Baxendale was written out in the next season, making only three cameo appearances after the season premiere. Reception Entertainment Weekly gives the episode an A rating, calling it a "near-perfect finale that finds everyone at the top of their game" with a "tantalizing cliff-hanger, and, in Chandler and Rachel, a relationship that will have reverberations for seasons to come". The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends state there are "too many 'best moments' to list in detail", but single out Rachel describing the perfect wedding to Ross, and Sarah Ferguson's cameo (though they call Branson's "embarrassing"). Following the broadcast of the episode in the UK, The Independent was critical, saying "Twice the length of a normal episode, last night's offering was approximately half as funny" and suggested the cast were behaving out of character. David Schwimmer has expressed dissatisfaction that Ross was married again, saying it was "a mistake" and that Ross was not given "enough credit". He says that Ross' "taking on the world would just be shattered" following the character's first divorce and that he wouldn't have risked another divorce. David Crane has said that filming in front of a different audience "energized the actors and writers". The hall where the wedding ceremony took place would inspire the location for the wedding of David and Victoria Beckham. The events of this episode are revisited in the seventh season episode "The One With The Truth About London", where flashbacks reveal how Rachel and Chandler ended up in bed together. The hotel room set was recreated for those scenes. Trivia General *This is one of the few two-part episodes. These episodes were originally aired in their entirety, but written to be aired separately in syndication. This is also the first season finale to have two parts. *For this episode, and part 2 of the story, an exclusive title sequence would be used, featuring only one shot from the usual fountain intro and all the other footage from these two episodes. *This episode and part two are partially filmed in front of a British audience. *The hat salesman is played by Sir Richard Branson, the man who created the Virgin Group ltd. (Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, etc.). If you look over Joey's shoulder when they are at the hat stand, there is a red baseball cap displaying the Virgin logo. *The book that Phoebe asks Chandler to bring her, is the same book that Joey reads in the beginning of "The One With The Rumor". *Rachel mentions she never found Ross's hair greasy, however in "The One With Phoebe's Dad", Rachel tells Ross that he uses too much hair gel. *Lisa Kudrow was pregnant in real life during the filming of this episode, and was not able to travel to London. The writers had to find a way to keep her involved in the story while still in Monica's apartment. *Sarah Ferguson is credited as "Sarah, The Dutchess Of York." *The hotel where the Friends stay in this episode, the London Marriott, was the actual hotel that the cast and crew stayed in while filming. *On the day this two-part episode aired, Lisa Kudrow gave birth to her son. *This episode is the first episode to be filmed at three separate times: the apartment scenes were done first in L.A., followed by the outdoor London scenes a few weeks later. Finally, the scenes taking place indoors in London were filmed in front of a British studio audience. It is also the second episode to feature location shooting. *On the DVD, there are added scenes include a montage of Joey and Chandler on a double decker bus (with co-creator Marta Kauffman and writer Adam Chase sitting right behind them, the music playing in the background is "England Swings" by Roger Miller), and Rachel getting fitted for her bridesmaid dress. *At the part when Joey and Chandler leaves the hotel, the music playing in the background is "London Calling" by The Clash. * The opening sequence contains some pretty significant spoilers. For one thing, it shows Rachel leaving the apartment with suitcases, buying a ticket and showing up in London. The other one, perhaps the biggest spoiler, is a shot of Rachel and Chandler in bed together. Goofs/Continuity *In the very beginning of the scene where Phoebe and Monica get the call from Joey, a crew member can be seen walking out of the shot on the left. *When Phoebe is talking on the phone with Emily's mother and making a sandwich, she puts mayo on her sandwich. But at the end of the conversation there is no mayo on her sandwich. *When Rachel and Phoebe are discussing if she loves Ross, Phoebe's necklace switches sides constantly between shots. *When Ross, Emily, and Monica are going to see the church, Rachel questions the food. After she claps her hands, the camera angle changes and her hands are down with no time to do so. Then Rachel claps again. *When Rachel is telling Phoebe she's going to London, she comes out of her room with a sweater over her shoulders. It shows Phoebe and two seconds later it shows Rachel again, but the sweater is gone. Then she goes to the wall and grabs a jacket. It goes back and forth between Rachel having the sweater and not having it. *During his best man speech at the rehearsal dinner, Joey says "I first met Ross in this coffee house back home...", but technically we learned in "The One With The Flashback" that Joey actually met Ross in the bar that eventually became the coffee shop, but was still a bar at the time. *While at the airport Rachel shows her drivers license however in the episode The One With The Invitation it is shown that she didn't have a valid license and in season 7 episode The One With Chandler's Dad it shown that she still doesn't have a valid license. However, it is shown she validated sometime in season 8 or 9, as in The One With The Cake, Ross runs home saying "Rach forgot her license". *In a cut scene of Big Ben a 109 bus goes past. This bus runs south of the river and does not pass the monument. * It is odd that Ross's son, Ben, would not be in or at least at his father's wedding. He was in Carol and Susan's wedding in "The One With The Lesbian Wedding". Episode Navigation Category:Friends Category:Friends Episodes Category:Season 4 Category:Episodes with Ross's name in the title